A Condemnation Against Crime

Potato farmers from the Orange Walk District are hopeful that after a series of meetings with Agriculture officials their concerns about an oversupply of imported potato in the market have been alleviated.

Because of the foreign produce saturating the market, local producers have been unable to sell their potatoes and if they do, it is for a pittance. After CTV-3 News broke the story last week, officials scrambled to deal with the situation and it has led to an agreement. We spoke to Walter Hernandez of the San Carlos Cooperative.

But not all issues are settled. The all-important matter of pricing has not seen common-ground because the suggested price of $75 per pound for wholesale purchases which would translate to a market price of $1.25 has not been accepted by farmers. Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Jose Alpuche, said there is lots of room for dialogue in order to find a price accepted by all.

CEO Jose Alpuche - Ministry of Agriculture

“The other issues with potatoes has to do with price but potatoes is not a price control commodity but as you heard earlier we trying to act as a facilitator with the producers and the importers and the marketers to ensure that we could get a price that the farmers will accept as you also heard earlier they agreed with that price but when the ladies took it back to the farmers it was rejected so we go back to the drawing board, we do all we can to try to smooth out the rough edges and to try to create that balance required for the farmers and for the consumers in the country.”